What do you think?
Rate this book
A Saturday Life
This is an early work by Radclyffe Hall was originally published in 1925.
'A Saturday Life' is a novel about a girl named Sardonia who hops from one obsession to another.
'A Saturday Life' is a novel about a girl named Sardonia who hops from one obsession to another.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1925
5 people are currently reading
392 people want to read
About the author
Radclyffe Hall
91 books353 followersMarguerite Antonia Radclyffe Hall (12 August 1880 – 7 October 1943) was an English poet and author, best known for the novel The Well of Loneliness, a groundbreaking work in lesbian literature. In adulthood, Hall often went by the name John, rather than Marguerite.
In the drawing rooms of Edwardian society, Marguerite made a small name as a poet and librettist. In 1907, she met a middle-aged fashionable singer, Mrs. Mabel Batten, known as 'Ladye", who introduced her to influential people. Batten and Radclyffe Hall entered into a long-term relationship. But before Batten died in 1916, Radclyffe Hall, known in private as 'John', had taken up with the second love of her life, Una, Lady Troubridge, who gave up her own creative aspirations (she was the first English translator of the French novelist Colette) to manage the household which she shared with 'John' for 28 years. With Batten, Radclyffe Hall converted to Catholicism; in the company of Una, she pursued an interest in animals and spiritualism. In later life, Radclyffe Hall chased after a younger woman named Evguenia Souline, a White Russian refugee. She died from cancer of the colon in October 1943.
As Radclyffe Hall (no hyphen; prefixed neither by 'John' nor 'Marguerite'), she published a volume of stories, Miss Ogilvy Finds Herself (1934), which describes how British society utilised 'masculine' women during the First World War and then dropped them afterwards, and a total of seven novels. However, the novel on which Radclyffe Hall's reputation rests primarily is The Well of Loneliness (1928).
The novel was successfully prosecuted for obscenity when if first came out, and remained banned in Britain until 1948. Vilified as 'the bible of lesbianism' by fire-and-brimstone reactionaries. In the seventies, the halcyon days of radical feminism, it was hailed as the first portrayal of a 'butch' woman.
In the drawing rooms of Edwardian society, Marguerite made a small name as a poet and librettist. In 1907, she met a middle-aged fashionable singer, Mrs. Mabel Batten, known as 'Ladye", who introduced her to influential people. Batten and Radclyffe Hall entered into a long-term relationship. But before Batten died in 1916, Radclyffe Hall, known in private as 'John', had taken up with the second love of her life, Una, Lady Troubridge, who gave up her own creative aspirations (she was the first English translator of the French novelist Colette) to manage the household which she shared with 'John' for 28 years. With Batten, Radclyffe Hall converted to Catholicism; in the company of Una, she pursued an interest in animals and spiritualism. In later life, Radclyffe Hall chased after a younger woman named Evguenia Souline, a White Russian refugee. She died from cancer of the colon in October 1943.
As Radclyffe Hall (no hyphen; prefixed neither by 'John' nor 'Marguerite'), she published a volume of stories, Miss Ogilvy Finds Herself (1934), which describes how British society utilised 'masculine' women during the First World War and then dropped them afterwards, and a total of seven novels. However, the novel on which Radclyffe Hall's reputation rests primarily is The Well of Loneliness (1928).
The novel was successfully prosecuted for obscenity when if first came out, and remained banned in Britain until 1948. Vilified as 'the bible of lesbianism' by fire-and-brimstone reactionaries. In the seventies, the halcyon days of radical feminism, it was hailed as the first portrayal of a 'butch' woman.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
November 29, 2016
This is the first time I have read anything by Radclyffe Hall and this is an oddity, published in 1925. Spoilers ahead.
The protagonist is Sidonia and we follow her from about eight years old until her mid-twenties. Her father is dead and her mother (Lady Shore) is a well-known Egyptologist who is buried in her studies and finds her daughter a complete puzzle. Lady Shore has a friend Frances who has a great deal to do with Sidonia’s upbringing. Sidonia is a child and later young woman who goes through phases of having passions for particular pastimes in a very single-minded way. These pastimes include dancing, painting sculpture and singing. Sidonia has talent at all of these and progresses very well; her teachers believing she has enough talent to go far. There is a strong comedic element in this as Sidonia is as irritating as Frances is wry and sardonic as she attempts to parent Sidonia (Lady Shore having become very bemused by it all). Eventually Sidonia and Frances go to Florence after Sidonia wins a travel prize for her sculpture; it is here she meets the Ferrari family and takes up singing. She spends a couple of years in Florence and then returns to England for a serious audition. She meets David, a rather wealthy and very traditional young man and gives up her singing to marry him. Sidonia suddenly becomes a conventional upper class wife and bears her husband a son and heir. The obvious conclusion should be that only by marrying and having children can a woman be fulfilled.
I’m sure it is not that simple. The character of David is so much of a caricature and so much of a contrast to the rest of the book that it feels for me like an elaborate joke. Go with convention and you will sacrifice all your creativity. There is also the thought that Sidonia may get bored with being a wife and mother if she stays with type. This is the origin of the title of the novel. Frances finds a book in Florence which describes a personality type which moves from one activity to another staying with none for too long. These people have been reincarnated seven times and have little new to learn. This type of person is said to lead A Saturday Life. Hall is not pushing belief in reincarnation (she was a Catholic), but inviting the reader to consider the nature of time and its link to morality. Sidonia’s mother prefers to spend her time in ancient Egypt. The singing teacher Miss Valery believes she is the reincarnation of a Greek courtesan. Unfortunately she is unable to cope with Sidonia deciding it is very much better to dance without clothes and other parents are scandalised.
There are also other messages and the character of Frances is fascinating. There are lots of clues to indicate that she is partially modelled on Hall. The teaching of Havelock Ellis about sexual inversion were very current and the clues are there. Hall asks questions about artistic endeavour and the difference between talent and genius.
The ending is enigmatic; Sidonia sees her husband through the eyes of love, but Hall shows the reader the real person. The reader also sees that by the end of the novel David has been replaced in Sidonia’s affections by her son.
There is a rather irritating sense of middle class superiority about it all and the faithful servant is a caricature, but the whole is funny.
The protagonist is Sidonia and we follow her from about eight years old until her mid-twenties. Her father is dead and her mother (Lady Shore) is a well-known Egyptologist who is buried in her studies and finds her daughter a complete puzzle. Lady Shore has a friend Frances who has a great deal to do with Sidonia’s upbringing. Sidonia is a child and later young woman who goes through phases of having passions for particular pastimes in a very single-minded way. These pastimes include dancing, painting sculpture and singing. Sidonia has talent at all of these and progresses very well; her teachers believing she has enough talent to go far. There is a strong comedic element in this as Sidonia is as irritating as Frances is wry and sardonic as she attempts to parent Sidonia (Lady Shore having become very bemused by it all). Eventually Sidonia and Frances go to Florence after Sidonia wins a travel prize for her sculpture; it is here she meets the Ferrari family and takes up singing. She spends a couple of years in Florence and then returns to England for a serious audition. She meets David, a rather wealthy and very traditional young man and gives up her singing to marry him. Sidonia suddenly becomes a conventional upper class wife and bears her husband a son and heir. The obvious conclusion should be that only by marrying and having children can a woman be fulfilled.
I’m sure it is not that simple. The character of David is so much of a caricature and so much of a contrast to the rest of the book that it feels for me like an elaborate joke. Go with convention and you will sacrifice all your creativity. There is also the thought that Sidonia may get bored with being a wife and mother if she stays with type. This is the origin of the title of the novel. Frances finds a book in Florence which describes a personality type which moves from one activity to another staying with none for too long. These people have been reincarnated seven times and have little new to learn. This type of person is said to lead A Saturday Life. Hall is not pushing belief in reincarnation (she was a Catholic), but inviting the reader to consider the nature of time and its link to morality. Sidonia’s mother prefers to spend her time in ancient Egypt. The singing teacher Miss Valery believes she is the reincarnation of a Greek courtesan. Unfortunately she is unable to cope with Sidonia deciding it is very much better to dance without clothes and other parents are scandalised.
There are also other messages and the character of Frances is fascinating. There are lots of clues to indicate that she is partially modelled on Hall. The teaching of Havelock Ellis about sexual inversion were very current and the clues are there. Hall asks questions about artistic endeavour and the difference between talent and genius.
The ending is enigmatic; Sidonia sees her husband through the eyes of love, but Hall shows the reader the real person. The reader also sees that by the end of the novel David has been replaced in Sidonia’s affections by her son.
There is a rather irritating sense of middle class superiority about it all and the faithful servant is a caricature, but the whole is funny.
June 13, 2018
Non l'ho capito. Cioè, non ho capito perchè si scrivano libri del genere.
Posso capirlo solo se collocato nel contesto storico-sociale (1925, il movimento di emancipazione femminile, l'Inghilterra, Londra, il fascino dell'arte e di qualche teoria esoterica), e culturale (mi ha ricordato come impianto e tema Orlando della Woolf, che è successivo del '28). Però non basta.
Sidonia, la protagonista, non prova nessuna empatia per il mondo circostante - e a dire il vero il lettore, anzi il mio ego-da-lettrice, la ricambia - e passa la propria vita, fin dalla più tenera infanzia da un'arte all'altra, praticandole con genio e passione, ma solo per periodi limitati. Poi puf, il genio svanisce e pure la passione (o viceversa).
Scritto con gran maestria, costruito con mestiere, letto con crescente interesse, finito con delusione.
Una teoria esoterica per mascherare una rivendicazione sociale e culturale (le donne sono in grado di fare tutto quello che vogliono al pari degli uomini) ahimè tradita dall'assunto di fondo (ma solo come reincarnazione di qualcun altro).
Non che 100 anni dopo si siano fatti tutti questi passi avanti, visto che stirare le camicie del compagno viene proposta come massima aspirazione della compagna dell'attuale lìder maximo celodurista (e con uno storytelling infinitamente più infimo di quello di Radclyffe Hall).
Posso capirlo solo se collocato nel contesto storico-sociale (1925, il movimento di emancipazione femminile, l'Inghilterra, Londra, il fascino dell'arte e di qualche teoria esoterica), e culturale (mi ha ricordato come impianto e tema Orlando della Woolf, che è successivo del '28). Però non basta.
Sidonia, la protagonista, non prova nessuna empatia per il mondo circostante - e a dire il vero il lettore, anzi il mio ego-da-lettrice, la ricambia - e passa la propria vita, fin dalla più tenera infanzia da un'arte all'altra, praticandole con genio e passione, ma solo per periodi limitati. Poi puf, il genio svanisce e pure la passione (o viceversa).
Scritto con gran maestria, costruito con mestiere, letto con crescente interesse, finito con delusione.
Una teoria esoterica per mascherare una rivendicazione sociale e culturale (le donne sono in grado di fare tutto quello che vogliono al pari degli uomini) ahimè tradita dall'assunto di fondo (ma solo come reincarnazione di qualcun altro).
Non che 100 anni dopo si siano fatti tutti questi passi avanti, visto che stirare le camicie del compagno viene proposta come massima aspirazione della compagna dell'attuale lìder maximo celodurista (e con uno storytelling infinitamente più infimo di quello di Radclyffe Hall).
October 19, 2025
Sidonia non è di certo una bambina come tutte le altre. La sua mente è sempre in movimento, piena di pensieri, aspirazioni, desideri. Sembra aver già vissuto molte vita prima di questa e – da ognuna di esse – pare aver portato con sé ricordi, emozioni, ataviche consapevolezze che si riflettono nei suoi occhi giovani, ma acuti.
L’arte sembra la sua strada: sin dall’infanzia si dedica alla poesia, alla danza, alla musica, alla scultura. Le sue sono passioni folgoranti, che durano il tempo di una stagione e che la lasciano spossata e insoddisfatta. Tutto nasce in Sidonia dall’istinto: una fiamma in lei si risveglia, il fuoco si fa strada tra le braci fredde e divampa di una forza tutta sua, ogni volta uguale, ogni volta nuova.
Non ci sono regole, non ci sono maestri che possano davvero insegnarle, trasformarla in una studentessa disciplinata. La teoria è fredda, sterile, non ha nulla a che vedere con l’arte che Sidonia sente di voler esprimere, con la forza che la percorre da capo a piedi e prega a gran voce di essere espressa, pena la più insopportabile delle frustrazioni. Nulla può trattenerla dall’esplorare ciò che prova, nessuno può spingerla a credere che non si possa ballare nude seguendo le onde del proprio corpo, nessuno può convincerla che per suonare serva saper leggere la musica o esercitarsi sulle scale.
Sidonia lotta con la musica, lotta con i tasti del piano dai quali sembra non poter uscire nulla di ciò che il suo cuore le suggerisce, si batte con la creta che non pare voler cedere sotto le sue mani. In ogni cosa che fa Sidonia cerca la vita, il flusso doloroso e pieno dell’esistenza che non pensa di poter trovare tra le mura di una casa in stile Regina Anna, con una madre fin troppo concentrata sulle antichità egizie per accudire una figlia e aiutarla e crescere e con un’amica, Frances, decisa a rimproverarla per ogni cambio di idea, per ogni virata inaspettata.
Continua a leggere qui: https://parlaredilibri.wordpress.com/...
L’arte sembra la sua strada: sin dall’infanzia si dedica alla poesia, alla danza, alla musica, alla scultura. Le sue sono passioni folgoranti, che durano il tempo di una stagione e che la lasciano spossata e insoddisfatta. Tutto nasce in Sidonia dall’istinto: una fiamma in lei si risveglia, il fuoco si fa strada tra le braci fredde e divampa di una forza tutta sua, ogni volta uguale, ogni volta nuova.
Non ci sono regole, non ci sono maestri che possano davvero insegnarle, trasformarla in una studentessa disciplinata. La teoria è fredda, sterile, non ha nulla a che vedere con l’arte che Sidonia sente di voler esprimere, con la forza che la percorre da capo a piedi e prega a gran voce di essere espressa, pena la più insopportabile delle frustrazioni. Nulla può trattenerla dall’esplorare ciò che prova, nessuno può spingerla a credere che non si possa ballare nude seguendo le onde del proprio corpo, nessuno può convincerla che per suonare serva saper leggere la musica o esercitarsi sulle scale.
Sidonia lotta con la musica, lotta con i tasti del piano dai quali sembra non poter uscire nulla di ciò che il suo cuore le suggerisce, si batte con la creta che non pare voler cedere sotto le sue mani. In ogni cosa che fa Sidonia cerca la vita, il flusso doloroso e pieno dell’esistenza che non pensa di poter trovare tra le mura di una casa in stile Regina Anna, con una madre fin troppo concentrata sulle antichità egizie per accudire una figlia e aiutarla e crescere e con un’amica, Frances, decisa a rimproverarla per ogni cambio di idea, per ogni virata inaspettata.
Continua a leggere qui: https://parlaredilibri.wordpress.com/...
Read
May 6, 2017Not really pleased with this one (it's me). Not that there's anything particularly wrong or grating about it. Just that the promising premise (and what premise is not promising?) just didn't take flight in a direction I usually fly. Nevertheless, an almost pleasant enough afternoon spent reading.
February 16, 2019
Sidonia Shore is the only daughter of the gently vague Lady Prudence Shore, a woman whose head is generally somewhere in Ancient Egypt. Her husband, himself a great Egyptologist has died, and she is determined to carry on his life’s work and ensure his name is not forgotten. Her daughter Sidonia is only seven years old as the novel opens, when the child’s nurse finds her dancing naked in the drawing room. When challenged, Sidonia bites the nurse and the shocked woman has no choice but to rouse Lady Shore from her Egyptian ruminations. Sidonia’s mother is rather at a loss as how to deal with her eccentric child – and enlists the help of her friend Lady Frances Reide who lives nearby and is a frequent visitor.
Sidonia is clearly a precocious child – and Frances suggests that her mother enrol her in the Rose Valery dance school in Fulham. Here the pupils – under the tutelage of their teacher, endeavour to recapture the soul of Ancient Greece.
“Sidonia’s first appearance at the Rose Valery School was positively melodramatic. To begin with, she looked so extremely unusual, with her pale face and shock of auburn curls. She was little and quiet and immensely self-possessed, not at all put out by the groups of gaping students. The moment Rose Valery set eyes on the child she had, or so she said afterwards, great difficulty in stifling a scream of pleasure.”
Prudence and Frances can only hope that Sidonia is able to express herself artistically at the school, while keeping her clothes on. Sidonia behaves impeccably to begin with – but she finds clothes so restrictive for dance – and soon removes them, dancing naked before her classmates in the cloakroom. Frances has some work to do in persuading Rose Valery to allow Sidonia back after this – she has been receiving letters from uncles after all. For a few years Sidonia is happy dancing at the school – but the strictures of the school and clothing begin to take their toll on her talent, and her dancing changes. Soon Sidonia finds she no longer loves dance – and completely gives it up.
Book review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2018/...
Sidonia is clearly a precocious child – and Frances suggests that her mother enrol her in the Rose Valery dance school in Fulham. Here the pupils – under the tutelage of their teacher, endeavour to recapture the soul of Ancient Greece.
“Sidonia’s first appearance at the Rose Valery School was positively melodramatic. To begin with, she looked so extremely unusual, with her pale face and shock of auburn curls. She was little and quiet and immensely self-possessed, not at all put out by the groups of gaping students. The moment Rose Valery set eyes on the child she had, or so she said afterwards, great difficulty in stifling a scream of pleasure.”
Prudence and Frances can only hope that Sidonia is able to express herself artistically at the school, while keeping her clothes on. Sidonia behaves impeccably to begin with – but she finds clothes so restrictive for dance – and soon removes them, dancing naked before her classmates in the cloakroom. Frances has some work to do in persuading Rose Valery to allow Sidonia back after this – she has been receiving letters from uncles after all. For a few years Sidonia is happy dancing at the school – but the strictures of the school and clothing begin to take their toll on her talent, and her dancing changes. Soon Sidonia finds she no longer loves dance – and completely gives it up.
Book review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2018/...
July 10, 2022
Radclyffe Hall è l'autrice di uno dei libri più importanti della mia adolescenza e ho sempre accuratamente evitato di leggere le altre sue opere per non restarne "delusa". Mi è però capitata "La vita del sabato" e puntualmente è successo quello che temevo.
Il personaggio di Lady Frances è quello che mi ha colpita di più perché è la donna che si trova ai margini dalla società per il suo comportamento originale (e l'ottuso personaggio di David glielo dirà apertamente), mentre gli altri, compresa la protagonista, rimangono sullo sfondo (a eccezione di Liza, una sorta di Gea rediviva) per motivi diversi. Sidonia è la persona che passa attraverso le varie fasi della vita, che deve sperimentare etc etc ma la possibilità della reincarnazione è pessima :P
l finale è un po' deludente e stiracchiato. Aspettative altissime, paure reali... risultato scontato.
Il personaggio di Lady Frances è quello che mi ha colpita di più perché è la donna che si trova ai margini dalla società per il suo comportamento originale (e l'ottuso personaggio di David glielo dirà apertamente), mentre gli altri, compresa la protagonista, rimangono sullo sfondo (a eccezione di Liza, una sorta di Gea rediviva) per motivi diversi. Sidonia è la persona che passa attraverso le varie fasi della vita, che deve sperimentare etc etc ma la possibilità della reincarnazione è pessima :P
l finale è un po' deludente e stiracchiato. Aspettative altissime, paure reali... risultato scontato.
September 1, 2020
This is very light, very tongue-in-cheek, with some lovely writing. It’s the story of an artistic little girl named Sidonia, a decided and passionate young creature, and her process of growing into a woman. The book was first published in 1925, and seems to be set about a decade or two earlier, in England.
When we first meet Sidonia, she’s seven years old, and she’s scandalizing her nurse by dancing naked in the drawing room. When she’s sent to dancing school, she argues with her teacher about everything, and inspires the other students to rebel as well. Her teacher, enthralled by her talent, gives her individual lessons. And then, suddenly, she loses interest, and turns to the piano. After a period of time composing music, she ceases to find that inspiring, and turns to sculpting. And then it’s singing.
Each phase lasts years, and is attacked with enormous energy and skill. It seems she’s talented at everything. And at each phase, Sidonia is given wonderful teachers, who see her as the culmination of their efforts. Nothing matters more than the art she is practicing, until it doesn’t matter at all.
And through all this, Sidonia grows up. When she’s practicing as a sculptor, she lives in Florence for a while, and falls in love with the city. The reader falls in love with Florence too, through Hall’s rich descriptions.
Sidonia’s only family is her mother, an Egyptologist and the widow of another Egyptologist, a vague and easily flustered woman with very little interest in modern life. She spends her days trying to get her husband’s papers together, and is always a little bewildered by Sidonia.
Her mother’s best friend, Frances, is a strong, eccentric woman who is very easily read as a lesbian, although of course, this is not spelled out. But this was a time in Radclyffe Hall’s life in which she accepted her own homosexuality, and so she created a believable and interesting lesbian character here. Frances is the most stable and accessible person in Sidonia’s life. And some of the most amusing sections of the book involve Frances being misunderstood by Sidonia’s beau, David.
Sidonia shows absolutely no interest in the male sex for most of her life, and then quite suddenly falls in love, and throws all her art over for David. The novel ends with her having a baby, and being completely enthralled with the child. Although this is a conventional ending, it does feel true to Sidonia’s absolutist nature. And there’s a sense that there’s a lot more left to her story, and that eventually, something else will come along and run off with her heart again.
When we first meet Sidonia, she’s seven years old, and she’s scandalizing her nurse by dancing naked in the drawing room. When she’s sent to dancing school, she argues with her teacher about everything, and inspires the other students to rebel as well. Her teacher, enthralled by her talent, gives her individual lessons. And then, suddenly, she loses interest, and turns to the piano. After a period of time composing music, she ceases to find that inspiring, and turns to sculpting. And then it’s singing.
Each phase lasts years, and is attacked with enormous energy and skill. It seems she’s talented at everything. And at each phase, Sidonia is given wonderful teachers, who see her as the culmination of their efforts. Nothing matters more than the art she is practicing, until it doesn’t matter at all.
And through all this, Sidonia grows up. When she’s practicing as a sculptor, she lives in Florence for a while, and falls in love with the city. The reader falls in love with Florence too, through Hall’s rich descriptions.
Sidonia’s only family is her mother, an Egyptologist and the widow of another Egyptologist, a vague and easily flustered woman with very little interest in modern life. She spends her days trying to get her husband’s papers together, and is always a little bewildered by Sidonia.
Her mother’s best friend, Frances, is a strong, eccentric woman who is very easily read as a lesbian, although of course, this is not spelled out. But this was a time in Radclyffe Hall’s life in which she accepted her own homosexuality, and so she created a believable and interesting lesbian character here. Frances is the most stable and accessible person in Sidonia’s life. And some of the most amusing sections of the book involve Frances being misunderstood by Sidonia’s beau, David.
Sidonia shows absolutely no interest in the male sex for most of her life, and then quite suddenly falls in love, and throws all her art over for David. The novel ends with her having a baby, and being completely enthralled with the child. Although this is a conventional ending, it does feel true to Sidonia’s absolutist nature. And there’s a sense that there’s a lot more left to her story, and that eventually, something else will come along and run off with her heart again.
November 29, 2012
The well of loneliness is my favourite book of all time, but I've not actually read any other books by Radclyffe Hall. This was very different, and it took awhile for me to get used to it. This is a book about the “artistic temperament” but it is also a book about how young girls and young women can be incredibly self-centred, egotistical, stupid and flighty. The main character Sardonia is rather despicable. She goes from one obsession to the next without looking back or taking seriously any of her past endeavours. Everything she does amounts to nothing as each obsession is thrown out in favour of the next. Eventually she gives up any idea of having an artistic career, or indeed even her own opinions on anything, and transforms herself into how her husband thinks she should be. Her husband is totally horrendous, the worst kind of posh misogynist. But the book is not really about Sardonia as much as it is her mother and her mother’s “best friend” Francis. Sardonia’s mother is a Lady, an Egyptologist who was widowed young, a little old fashioned and prudish, but mostly an intellectual who doesn’t want to be bothered. Francis is definitely “not the marrying kind” and can’t understand why people would be sad for her not to marry, but values her independence, her own ideas, and her mannish clothes. Many of my favourite scenes in the book were her telling of Sardonia for how selfish and stupid she was being. Sardonia briefly falls in love with Frances, who spends time with Sardonia, but misses the time she should be spending with her mother. But despite all that she can’t bring herself to dislike Sardonia. It is a very interesting relationship. My favourite chapter in the book was after Sardonia’s hideous marriage Francis and the Lady make quite a life for themselves. The Lady tries to get Francis to move in, and they start to have their own happy and fulfilled life now the controlling presence of the daughter has left. This chapter totally made me fall in love with the book, and made up for the ambivalence I was feeling earlier in it. I thought this was enjoyable, light hearted, easy to read, with some quite interesting ideas. While nowhere near the same level as the well of loneliness it made me want to read her other books as well.
Read
February 19, 2025Sidonia is a remarkable child. Amongst other things, she likes to dance naked--at the age of seven. At one point, some few years later, her mother says to her "If you were not my own child, Sidonia, I should lose all patience with you. I sometimes think you must be mad, flying from one thing to another as you do." indeed I think the only reason I have patience with her is that she's not my own child if I were teaching her in school or if I were her father, I would find her a lot harder to deal with. As a literary character, I found her quite enjoyable for a good portion of the book as she seems to represent the rule-bending, creative, inquisitive spirit of all the arts. If she misbehaves--in conventional terms--it's because her spirit is responding to impulses outside society's normal lines. Unfortunately, she grows up. It's a rather disappointing ending to a rather promising beginning of a novel. The title refers to a philosophy of reincarnation--one that Sidonia embraces enthusiastically in her teens (as providing an excuse for everything she's ever done on a reason why she's not at fault)--and to her credit she recognizes that some people must think she's at fault, that her behaviour has not, at all, always been easy to live with. But she grows up. In many ways, she doesn't mature. But she grows up. She becomes more or less normal. The end. Oh well.
April 30, 2021
Sidonia is a strange child who at the age of eight dances naked, at three years old wrote morbid poetry and as she grows older manifests sudden amazing talents, which just as suddenly disappear. Is she an example of a "Saturday Life"- the last stage of a journey through reincarnation when the soul is doomed to relieve past lives? Although this is a theme in the book, as is the mutability of time, the reader is left to make up their own mind. Sidonia herself is inconsistent, at the same time vulnerable, annoying, lacking self perception but afraid of what she sees herself to be. All in all a complex if not always attractive character. These ambiguities and unanswered questions were one of the many things I enjoyed in this novel. I also found it very funny and a wonderful depiction of time and place.
September 24, 2020
Sudden ending. Felt let diwn
Read this after Well of loneliness..which I lived..so expected more.i was rooting for Sidonia .the protagonist to not settle for ordinary. We leave her living quite ordinary ..a let down.
Read this after Well of loneliness..which I lived..so expected more.i was rooting for Sidonia .the protagonist to not settle for ordinary. We leave her living quite ordinary ..a let down.
June 21, 2023
Beautiful writing but even 25 pages in, I wanted to stop reading as Sidonia is SO irritating. Made it halfway through and then couldn’t do it anymore! An annoying and narcissistic protagonist. Not even half as absorbing as The Well of Loneliness.
December 22, 2022
2.5
Personaggi piatti, narrazione poco interessante, nessun mordente.
Francis è il personaggio migliore, l'unico verso cui si possa un minimo simpatizzare, gli altri son tuttə macchiette irritanti.
Personaggi piatti, narrazione poco interessante, nessun mordente.
Francis è il personaggio migliore, l'unico verso cui si possa un minimo simpatizzare, gli altri son tuttə macchiette irritanti.
June 5, 2025
Extremely under-read and interesting book. Short, very funny, extremely convincing and fascinating psychologies.
August 9, 2025
will read any Radclyffe Hall weird girl novel
October 31, 2025
she is so normal
June 23, 2011
While this was well-written and nicely plotted, I had problems wanting to keep reading it. Sidonia as a perpetually teenage-seeming character makes me not at all sympathetic to her situation, and the resolution is nothing short of "oh women are so fulfilled in childbirth"-level infuriating.
The things is, the book as a whole is more involved, more nuanced, and more interesting than that. I love Frances and Sidonia's mother, especially toward the end of the book. I strongly like the sense that "hey, Sidonia has been very talented at all kinds of things and rejected them--it seems likely that she'll also reject this last stereotypical role, no matter how suited she is for it." On the other hand, this last mother role seems like the resolution of the plot, while all her previous character changes seem like growing pains. There's this whole sense that "finally this wayward character has grown up," but the stereotype she's evidently grown up into is so pat, and so unlike what Radclyffe Hall herself must have been--she's far more like Frances--that the book seems ultimately like a semi-wistful look at the "natural state of woman," or something in that area, combined with a clear but unhappy knowledge of the author's own entirely different and socially unacceptable situation.
The things is, the book as a whole is more involved, more nuanced, and more interesting than that. I love Frances and Sidonia's mother, especially toward the end of the book. I strongly like the sense that "hey, Sidonia has been very talented at all kinds of things and rejected them--it seems likely that she'll also reject this last stereotypical role, no matter how suited she is for it." On the other hand, this last mother role seems like the resolution of the plot, while all her previous character changes seem like growing pains. There's this whole sense that "finally this wayward character has grown up," but the stereotype she's evidently grown up into is so pat, and so unlike what Radclyffe Hall herself must have been--she's far more like Frances--that the book seems ultimately like a semi-wistful look at the "natural state of woman," or something in that area, combined with a clear but unhappy knowledge of the author's own entirely different and socially unacceptable situation.
December 6, 2014
Of the two books I've read by R.H., I liked this one the best. It's fairly light, as I recall, though it's been some years.
November 6, 2012
A lovely and more humourous side to Halls writing.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews